Posts
--Vincent residents are quarreling over a $100 million limestone quarry that could create 125 jobs.
--A coal mining company is taking its lumps in the Blount County town of Rosa, where MCoal Corp. wants to spend an initial $5 million and create 25 jobs with an auger mine.
Excerpts of the Birmingham News article (read it in full, here):
In the Blount County community of Rosa, the group launched www.rosamine.org to share information about the coal mine a Canadian company wants to operate there.
Debbie Murphy, a resident on Berry Hill above the mine was one of the group's founders.
The group in Rosa is not staunchly opposed to the project, but is more of a watchdog group keeping an eye on MCoal and the process, Murphy said.
"A lot of the families here were coal miners themselves, so we're not knocking coal mining. We're just concerned about the whole operation starting all over again and what might come from it," she said.
Neil MacDonald, president of MCoal, said the company has been pursuing the mine for about a year. The specialty metallurgical coal found in Rosa is top quality and can be used in processes ranging from water purification to carbon-based lubricants to coking operations and to enhance lower quality coals, he said.
MacDonald said past companies bench-mined the coal off the edge of Berry Mountain before the current environmental and reclamation laws were in place. "They left a bit of a mess," he said of past operators.
MacDonald said he welcomes the watchful eye of the community over their operation in Rosa.
"There is a disingenuous kind of disconnect there," he said. "We want the Mercedes-Benzes and the Hondas and the Hyundais of the world and even the steel plants with our history here, but we don't want the quarries that produce the products that are essential to producing the steel for the automotive industry."
The other factor that is being overlooked, according to Bradley, is that these industries don't have the luxury of picking a site just anywhere for their project.
"A coal mine has to go where the coal is, a limestone project has to go where the minerals are and even the railroad is limited to where it can go by being able to connect to the rail line," he said.
Husband said the company is used to communities initially being afraid of the unknown, but then recognizing their worst concerns will not become a reality. Getting to that point in McCalla is proving difficult.
"Hopefully, as we get more factual information out there to counter a lot of the misinformation and the distortion of information, people will see that this project is really good for Alabama, really good for Jefferson County, and it will create the jobs we expect it to create," Husband said. "By the same token, for the people who live right there near the terminal, they're going to see the impact on their property values and quality of life are really non-issues."
MCoal's MacDonald said his company has also made concessions to the community group. He, too, is struck by the poor reception many seem to be giving his company's good intentions.
"People obviously care about what business is doing in their backyard, as they should," he said. "The part of it that's a little bit surprising is just the fact that it doesn't appear people are taking the time to truly learn our business and our plan."
In all three cases, environmental concerns have been among those raised. Air and water pollution are concerns cited in Rosa, Vincent and McCalla.
Bradley said the fact that the environmental movement has grown with the NIMBY movement is not a coincidence.
"There is another factor and that is the much more organized and energetic community of environmental activists than there used to be years ago," he said. "Some of those are not as concerned with the potential impact to the environment as they are with stopping growth. They use the environment as a tool to try to stop projects."
Despite all of the opposition, the companies behind the projects remain committed to making them happen.
Alabama Coal Mines 
NIMBY 
rosamine.org 
Rosa Coal Mine
Blount County Coal Mine
Mcoal Corporation
